RED MARKET

05.27.12

Illegal Kidney Sold Every Hour

The World Health Organization estimates 10,000 illegal kidney transplants occur across the globe each year. The lucrative trade operates through gangs buying the in-demand organ for as little as $5,000 from impoverished individuals in developing countries and selling them to surgeons who charge patients hundreds of thousands of dollars for implants. Data from WHO shows 106,879 legal and illegal organ transplants in 95 member states in 2010, almost 70 percent of which were kidneys and represents only 10 percent of the global demand for the organ. A network of doctors has been working to track illegal organ trade and a 10-person trafficking ring was recently apprehended by Israeli police last week.